Conflict at the Norfolk Base
The Conflict at the Norfolk Base was a brief conflict between the 14th Virginia and the newly-arrived 2nd Mass in a navy base in Norfolk, Virginia due to false accusations by an Espheni clone of Katie Marshall that the 2nd Mass were collaborating with the Espheni. Prelude At some point before the 2nd Mass's evacuation from Chinatown, the Espheni launched an ambush against the 14th Virginia to kill Captain Katie Marshall and replace her with their biological clone. When the 2nd Mass arrived at their base, they were initially welcomed although things didn't seem quite right when it was revealed that the 14th Virginia had spent most of their time over the past six weeks fighting human collaborators instead of the Espheni themselves, killing 39 collaborators over that time. In reality, these were not collaborators but people who were a threat to the Espheni who Marshall was hunting down in the guise of hunting collaborators. Several members of the 14th Virginia, particularly Zak Kagel and Trevor Huston, found great pleasure in this. Eventually, Ben Mason was taken into custody by the 14th and tortured by Sgt. Zak Kagel, who tore out one of his spikes. Shortly afterwards, the Mason family and most of the 2nd Mass were in turn arrested, tried, convicted of treason and scheduled for execution with the exception of Daniel Weaver who was considered above reproach by Marshall due to her lingering feelings for him from the original Katie Marshall. Weaver helped Matt Mason escape to get help from the rest of the 2nd Mass while Maggie and Isabella escaped as well. Conflict Shortly afterwards, Captain Marshall drove into the forest and was tailed by Weaver who discovered her meeting with an Overlord. After Marshall returned to the base, Weaver proceeded to kill the Overlord and sent it's body back to the base. Several members of the 14th Virginia, including Lt. Shelton and Lt. Demarcus Wolf began to realize what was happening was indeed wrong and that the 2nd Mass was not guilty of the accusations against them. Shelton and Wolf afterwards attempted to help the Mason family escape, resulting in Tom's escape and Shelton's death while the remainder of the Mason family was recaptured. Weaver also began to turn other members of the 14th Virginia against Marshall. At the execution, Anne and Ben Mason tried unsuccessfully to get the soldiers to stop, but Marshall kept going through with it. When ordered to fire, the firing squad disobeyed the order and before things could escalate any further, Tom returned with reinforcements from the 2nd Mass and Cochise. The 14th Virginia, caught off-guard, quickly surrendered in the face of overwhelming opposition and the prisoners were freed. Zak Kagel still attempted to shoot Tom, but was killed by Isabella. Using Cochise as an example, Tom showed the 14th Virginia that they had no need to be afraid of the Volm and that they needed to work together to end the war. As the 14th Virginia started to listen to Tom, Marshall pulled out her gun to shoot him, only to have Weaver stab her in the side, mortally wounding her. Everyone noticed Marshall bleeding black blood and realized that she was an Espheni plant, created to replace the real Katie Marshall who had been killed six weeks before. The Marshall clone confirmed that, telling Weaver that she was an experiment and flawed as she still retained the real Marshall's memories and emotions, including her love for Weaver. The Marshall clone then died and the 14th Virginia joined up with the 2nd Mass. Aftermath The 2nd Mass and the Volm move into the Norfolk base shortly afterwards, bringing the Espheni Shadow Plane communication hub with them. As the 2nd Mass begin moving supplies and attempt to contact the Mason Miltias across the U.S. for the final push to D.C., Ben Mason uses the communication hub to discover the existence of the Espheni Queen, where Cochise reveals that the Volm previously thought of this being as a legend. Meanwhile, Sgt. Trevor Huston flees from the base after the death of the clone and makes his way to the camp where John Pope's Crew is based. Captured by Anthony, he reveals to John Pope and the rest of his crew that Tom Mason is indeed still alive and at the Norfolk base. This brings a smile to Pope's face and he later leads an attack on the base. The incident also alerts the 2nd Mass to the existence of the Espheni-Generated Humans which proves vital when a clone of Alexis Glass-Mason is sent to assassinate her father before he can reach the Espheni Queen. The existence of the Katie Marshall clone makes the militia suspicious and cautious when dealing with what turns out to be another clone. Category:Season 5 Category:Battles